Bridging science and policy with the BiodivERsA network

15 April 2013 | News story

Successful conservation requires sound priority setting and decision-making based on the best available science. Science-policy interfaces are social processes, which encompass relations between scientists and other actors in the policy process, and which allow for exchanges, co-evolution, and joint construction of knowledge with the aim of enriching decision-making at different scales.

IUCN has partnered up with BiodivERsA to help translate the results of the projects funded by the network into a series of policy briefs targeted primarily to EU policy-makers.

BiodivERsA is a network of 21 research-funding agencies across 15 European countries funded under the EU’s 7th Framework Programme for Research. BiodivERsA works to coordinate national research programmes on biodiversity across Europe and to organize international funding for research projects in this field, on a competitive basis. The driving objective of BiodivERsA is to develop a sustainable mechanism to promote strategic cooperation in biodiversity research and related disciplines at a European scale. In 2008 alone, more than 14 million Euros were awarded to biodiversity research projects. See more here.

The BiodivERsa policy briefs aim to present the findings and recommendations of selected BiodivERsA research projects to policy-makers in the EU institutions and European national governments. IUCN will work closely with BiodivERsA scientists and experts within the IUCN network to identify the key policy recommendations of the research projects. The focus of this action will be on the projects funded by the network in 2008. Some of the topics covered are:

The IUCN European Union Representative Office in Brussels will lead the development of the BiodivERsA policy briefs with support from the large network of IUCN, global policy experts and specialized communicators of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication.

IUCN recognizes the need to strengthen the science-policy interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services, as shown by its engagement in the establishment and development of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) where IUCN has supported the integration of the perspectives of the scientific community and civil society into the IPBES process (more here).

In Brussels, the IUCN European Union Representative Office acts as liaison between the large IUCN constituency and the European Union. As focal point for IUCN on relevant EU policies, both internal as well as external, it plays an active role in promoting the extensive knowledge and science generated by IUCN, its Members and scientists to influence the EU decision-making process, as well as raise awareness of the importance of nature conservation among EU policy-makers.